We Belong to the Light
by HaveNoMercy
Summary: The history of how Tess & Oliver met, based on the Toxic spoilers and a few from Turbulence. Most of this is legit from Season 8 and 9 of Smallville. This story takes up from the last flashback in Toxic.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own these characters. No infringement intended.

**Rating:** NC-17 for sexual situations

**Verse:** Pre-Smallville

**Spoilers:** ("Toxic", "Odyssey", "Turbulence", and generally Season 8 and Season 9.) **Disregard most of Season 10.**

**A/N:** Some of the locational things, I had to play around with as I didn't do more than minimal research on Star City, beyond knowing it was basically "San Francisco". Just…bear that in mind.

Title is shamelessly ripped from Pat Benatar's 'We Belong'…

**We Belong to the Light**

[Their story doesn't end.]

**Chapter 1**

_Roughly Early 2002_

He watched her sleep on the airplane for several hours. He covered her up with a blanket and then he made a phone call – something he hadn't done in two years.

She'd only filled him in on very few things about who she was before she requested laying down to rest. Other than knowing she'd finished up her undergrad in Marine Biology at Harvard, he was at a pretty big loss as to her life story. Frankly though, he didn't need to know much more than that to be convinced that he _**wanted**_ to know more. He made a few phone calls investigating her as delicately as he could, seeing if he could have any clothing and necessary possessions of hers delivered to Star City for the time being to help her adjust.

Only a few hours ago, he'd asked her for more than a shared plane right off that island of hell. He'd asked her to come with him to Star City, to _**his**_ life. He'd never asked anyone that before. But then again, she'd saved him and he'd saved her, and that had reinforced the promise that he'd repeated to himself over and over in his mind while on the island. And beyond that, when he'd first met her, she'd made him think about something more than he ever had when looking at a beautiful woman. Not that he still didn't imagine what he usually did, but with each second that passed, there was a new layer, something more he wanted to uncover about her.

He lay back against the couch as she slept peacefully and flash backed to when they first took off.

"_Oliver," she stated, as if adjusting to knowing his name._

_They were sitting directly across from each other, the small, teak table between them._

"_That would be correct."_

_She tried not to smile. She hadn't smiled in a long time and she almost felt like he was mocking everything she said because it was amusing to him. It wasn't that he wasn't funny, but she got the impression that he had already decided it was fun to get a rise out of her. _

"_I just want you to know that even though Marcos knew who you were, I didn't, and that's not why I did my part in saving you."_

"_Your part," he repeated, disliking the fact that she wasn't taking enough credit for all that she did._

"_Are you hard of hearing?" she __objurgated. _

"_No, I'm not. You think I'm unaware that they wouldn't have saved me if I weren't attached to a title I didn't ask for? I know exactly what those kinds of people are like."_

"_Yes, and I'm not one of them. And it's really hard to think about what I left behind on that island, who I left behind even though I'm free now. I should've been able to protect her and I didn't. But I don't care about what __**they**__ care about. In fact it's a little strange to me that we were rescued and you made a phone call and you're being picked up by your own airplane soon to go to San Francisco."_

_Oliver was still lingering on the thought of her best friend's murder. "I'm sorry you lost her. It was because of me and I shouldn't have let that happen to either of you."_

"_I don't blame you for that," she said carefully and sincerely. "Marcos," she began to explain and then chose to not bother. "It's a long story, but you were a pawn for something he wanted. She and I were pieces just as much as you were. I was useful when it mattered, but really she and I were nothing to him and he was just a monster. That's not your fault."_

_He felt undeserving of her huge, green eyes looking at him like he was somehow more than he was. He may have saved her life, but she'd saved his first and he'd failed to protect Megan, who had been shot to death because of him. Tess could spin it anyway she wanted, but that was the truth. _

"_I know you're not like them. Where…where are you going to go?" he asked her, never having heard nervousness in his own voice in this situation before._

_Had he been in this situation before?_

"_I guess back to Massachusetts. After that, I don't know," she said almost nonchalantly. "Massachusetts is fine, much better than the south, but I don't know that I really have to stay there to study what I want to study."_

"_I love that you still want to be around the water," he smirked at her. _

"_Earth is 71% water," she smiled. "I know," she nodded, realizing how silly she came off. "It still doesn't bother me. The island was beautiful to me. The company was pure, undeniable hell-mostly, but I've never minded the ocean."_

_He never thought someone might say no to a request he made - and he was pretty sure he could convince her, but it was definitely not lost on him that she was different than everyone else endlessly sucking up to him, telling him exactly what he wanted to hear, regardless of their own, actual thoughts. "Come with me."_

"_To San Francisco?"_

"_Star City. There's an ocean there."_

"_Yeah, I've actually heard of California."_

_Okay, now she __**was**__ making it difficult for him to hold back from doing something she'd probably think was inappropriate without a bottle of wine or two. He settled for reaching for her face when she wasn't as focused on him as he would've preferred._

"_I'm serious and you know that. Have a cup of coffee with me if nothing else. You can still get what you need from Cambridge, but I didn't get the luxury of meeting you in a normal situation. I have to push the limits in order to keep you around. If I __**don't**__ manipulate the situation so we can see each other, we won't. It's not exactly my fault."_

"_Yeah," she nodded, pulling his hand down in hers. "I'll definitely buy that for a dollar. However - when you're you and I'm…not, I'm not sure I see the point. But I'm not really sure I want to know, to tell you the truth."_

"_I could be obvious."_

"_You could lose your arm too."_

_She let go of his hand, signaling that he not tick her off, but that she wasn't sincerely pissed off by the banter either._

"_Coffee," she said. "I think we'll actually arrive in the evening, and I think a meal that included a decent amount of seasoning would be incredible."_

Tess Mercer now slept on Oliver's plane, heading to Star City with him. She woke up on her own as the plane began its downward tilt, and although they had both cleaned up a little on the plane, they joked about longing for a real shower.

Tess, thinking she was prepared for the difference between what her life had been and what his would apparently be, was unequivocally wrong in assuming she'd done that sufficiently. It wasn't the size of his penthouse, it was more that he'd invited her to be with him in some fashion that they hadn't completely touched the details of quite yet, and she wasn't unaware that he held all of the power.

When he'd held his hand out to her on the island, every hope inside her wanted him to keep looking at her the way he was. But now, seeing what he had, and what he could easily have again, she felt completely out of place in this world he'd brought her into. Why couldn't he have been someone she could've felt worthy of? He was used to the most perfectly kept, socially connected women in the world and she stood there without a hair brush or a driver's license.

"Okay, you're not having a good reaction right now," he commented as he guided her to his open kitchen.

"And I'm sure that's unusual, and it's not a bad reaction, and it's not a reaction to you or your home, it's just thinking. It's what _**I**_ do, a lot, unfortunately."

"Well, you can take a break from that and take your clothes," he said handing her folded clothes. "…and the bathroom's through there," he added gesturing to her left.

"My clothes?" she asked when he placed them in her hands.

"Not yours, I had them brought here for you. And I called Harvard and they did still have a few of your things that will be here tomorrow, being that there was still an open investigation for you. I told them you'd call them tomorrow for any arrangements, but I thought you might want the basic things. And since you don't have any immediate family-"

He stopped immediately as he noticed her expression of distress.

"—and I don't either, which may explain why I have no manners."

"You had my things packed and investigated me while I was asleep?"

"I didn't pack your things personally, no. I'm having them brought here. And I didn't investigate you…exactly."

"I was less than ten feet away from you! Why didn't you wake me up if that's what you were planning?"

"I was trying to help?" he said more as a question than an answer.

"I am suddenly disturbed by how deep a sleeper I must be."

She stared ahead, nervous thoughts of all the things he could've found out in a matter of minutes that she would've preferred that he not before knowing her only a full day, and it began looping, over and over in her head, freaking her out more and more. There was pain in her past that she had a hard enough time thinking about. She didn't want him digging it up.

"You scare me when you do that," he told her.

"What?"

"That! Think, analyze thoughts I can't see."

"Oh you should be very glad that there are some things that stay in my head," she shot back, frustrated and tired, and yet still mildly amused by his overall personality. "Alright," she sighed, giving in, feeling groggy, hungry, and overheated. "Shower's that way?"

"Yeah, are you going to climb out the window?"

"Why would I when the front door is right there?" she replied with a small smile as she walked to his bathroom.

XxX

Afterwards, he worked to take a faster shower than her so he could encourage her to have dinner at a restaurant two blocks away. They both sat in the late hours of the evening, victims to the smell of gourmet food. It became worse when the food arrived.

They both became enveloped in the flavors and they savored the moment before speaking. Just as she felt her stomach muscles really relax after having guns constantly aimed at her for several months straight, Oliver asked a perfectly logical question that sent her nerves spiraling again.

"Do you ever wish you had siblings to help fill the void?"

She swallowed, took a sip of water and looked him directly in the eye. "No."

Immediately knowing how bad that sounded, as much as she hated having to say anything else about the childhood she barely survived, she gave a little bit more.

"I don't want to think about anyone else having to bear what I did. I had a father who couldn't stand the sight of me and a mother who died before I could really stand up to him, and I barely survived it. It was enough. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else."

"And now he's gone?"

"He wasn't there when I left," she said, trying to take another bite of food, now biting into something that seemed to have lost all flavor. "I just got off the island and everything you're imagining he might've done, that I might've endured, you'd be close enough and I've spent years getting as far away from that as possible. I just need to think about something else if that's okay."

"Okay then," he said, amazing her as he brought the discussion to an end with a small laugh from her.

"Were your parents perfect and beautiful? Loving? And blonde?"

"Is that wrong?"

She wanted to stick her fork in his chest for not understanding. She settled for rolling her eyes and sighing with a grin.

"No, it's just a little nauseating. A life of perfection."

"Oh yeah, completely perfect," he replied cynically. "With all those thoughts you have in there, I know you can be more observant than that. But you, you know how to save someone from a poison of an exotic plant and you do it. And you have a life mission that you care about."

"Life mission?"

"You're a marine biologist. You don't call that something you care about?"

"More than anything, of course. I just never gave it that label."

"Why did you choose it?"

"It's something you can't see easily. It's precious life that we rely on, that we need to protect. And when I was a child, it was where I could go in my mind, and it's everything I love now. But it's just about having something to believe in. Doesn't matter what it is, just caring enough to fight for something is enough. Even if it's something no one knows about or understands."

When she looked at the color of his eyes, she began to notice the texture of the food in her mouth again, and then she noticed the bracelet missing from her arm.

"Her bracelet," she whispered.

"Megan's?" he asked her.

"I left it in your bathroom," she said, closing her eyes regretfully.

"We'll go back after dinner and you can get it," he assured her, working hard to not let her see her pain affect him when he knew he'd had a part in creating it.

"I know, thank you," she replied, trying to convince herself that what he was saying was sensible and all right. "But this is the first time I go out after her death and I still couldn't remember to wear it," she said aloud. "It's something so simple to do for someone you love."

He reached across the table and placed two fingers over her wrist, so grateful for human touch again. "You just said no one else has to know or understand. You know about it, and she knows. The bracelet's there but it's not just about the bracelet, it's the memory that you have of it. And I believe in your love for her."

She could've taken his hand and latched on, never letting go for the rest of her life. She could've guessed how many people had wanted him, needed him, fallen for him, but very few people had looked at her when she was at her lowest point and still pushed her to see her own strength.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You're trying so hard to help me and I'm not making it easy on you."

She might not have been complimenting him on an endless basis like he remembered being accustomed to, but she was real, completely transparent, and he could feel that she was reaching out to him even though she was purposely trying not to.

"You need to imagine I'm just a guy in a library or something so that nothing you or I do matters. I keep feeling like you have an image of me now that you didn't when we first met. And it's going to bother you every time you find out something about me."

"Oh yeah? Something like what?"

"Like, I own this restaurant."

She paused eating again, trying not to laugh at him.

"There anything in this town you don't own?" she commented questioningly while swallowing. "Tread carefully with that answer," she advised him and he laughed at her.

"I think I'll hold off answering that."

She watched him look at her, knowing she must've been different to him than what he was used to. She couldn't eat while he was that focused on her and she didn't feel like she could consume any more food anyway. She leaned back in her chair, smiling genuinely at him.

"You want to walk with me a little? I haven't seen Star City before."

XxX

"You were there two years, right?" she asked warily, feeling chilly from the temperature difference between the island and northern California.

"Yeah," he said, rubbing her arms for an instant, and then he pulled away when she looked down at his hands.

She didn't want him to think she minded, but apparently she'd done that anyway. She looked ahead, getting herself out of the awkward moment and she smiled uninhibitedly, rushing forward a few steps.

"Look!" she called back to him, jumping into the street and landing in a puddle of water.

Having the water splash onto him, and having never had anyone randomly do that to him – at least not in the last ten years, he tried to pay serious attention to her.

"Did you see it?" she asked him with the delight of a five-year-old and the perseverance of a warrior.

"No, I didn't, unless you're referring to you jumping into a puddle in the middle of the road."

Her eyes widened, exasperated that he'd missed it. "And what? You weren't a child once? Oh, I'm sorry. You probably had hired help catering to your every whim and making sure that you were tended to at all times. I had to fend for myself, finding my own ways of amusement, so when something so simple and beautiful came into my path, it was everything."

She smiled at him, thinking that he was the one who was innocent and she came back to his side. "Look up," she whispered and he did, seeing a full moon with a large, visible white ring around it. "That was reflected in the puddle and I thought it was beautiful, so I embraced my inner child for a minute."

She was beside him now, totally immersed in the sky. He did enjoy the sparkling stars and moon that she was so moved by, but he could smell his shampoo in her hair and he wanted to move closer to her. He was charmed by her sense of youth, and that although she felt she was damaged, she could point out to him things he wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

"What does it mean?" he asked her just to keep her close.

"In literal terms it means that there are ice crystals in a hexagonal shape in the outer atmosphere reflecting in the sunlight, causing the ring. The folklore says bad weather is coming."

"Should I be worried?"

"You scared of rain?"

XxX

"This is not a _Pretty Woman_ situation," he smiled, cautious yet cocky at the same time.

"I know that," she agreed, laughing softly, still slightly unsure. "I appreciate that you _**didn't**_ get me something to sleep in," she said, looking at the bedroom he was providing her.

"It was two years of self-preservation and forgetting to think of these things, not concern for someone who prefers to not be helped…especially by someone like me. But there are some spare clothes of mine in the drawers and shirts you can use and not tell me about. Do whatever you feel comfortable with and tomorrow we can figure out a plan."

He hesitated, worrying about her worrying. At this moment, though, she was more concerned with his reactions and with watching him. She wanted him to relax, to be in control and make her feel like he wanted her, that somehow this was a normal situation…that she was normal, and that all of _**this**_ was normal. When she thought he might start to turn away, she spoke up.

"Oliver."

It was one word, but she had all the strength in her voice.

Her heart leapt and she couldn't tell if it was his hand or his mouth that got to her first when he kissed her, drawing her into the tangled web of emotions he seemed to have scrambled inside of himself. Her hand instantly went to his chest, feeling his heart pounding against her palm. Her lips parted against his as he began drawing her head back, unintentionally making her feel a need inside him she hadn't felt in anyone…possibly ever. She forced herself not to shiver or exhale too quickly even as she aligned herself against him, kissing him back, wanting to meet him, love it, and give into everything she felt for him.

She rose up on her toes a little, not used to being forced to have a response so quickly. He slowed down for her, making the kiss wetter, easier, sucking her lip gently, but more graphically. He hadn't tasted innocence on someone in a long time, and yet he still believed that she could win any argument. He knew that even though she wasn't pulling back, and even though he wanted her, that she wanted nothing more than a kiss tonight. Her fingers went to his face and although that made it harder to not hold onto her tighter, he pulled back, both of them hearing the loud break of their mouths as she opened her hazy eyes to look at him.

She widened her eyes and bit down on her swollen lower lip to keep from laughing at him trying to act as casual as possible. He said his most laid-back goodnight and disappeared into the dim hallway.

She knew they wouldn't survive very long living in the same space…at least not sleeping together immediately.

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

She was having a very large cup of coffee, relaxing after rushing through the multiple rooms of his penthouse as quietly as she could, no longer paying attention to the fact that she didn't live there. She had things to accomplish and she'd lost months of her life already. Plus, the fact that she'd gone ahead and slept in one of Oliver's shirts, not wanting to sleep in the only set of clothes she had, nor wanting to sleep naked in one of his beds, she now felt even more ambitious to reestablish her place in the world.

She'd awakened at dawn, happily, and then she had showered in the guest bathroom that had apparently become hers yesterday. For the next several hours she proceeded to make phone calls while working through things online to regain the most basic necessities for living day-to-day life. Finally taking a break, she sipped her coffee at his table, decompressing a little until she heard him coming out of his bedroom.

He was surprised to see her up and dressed, even though he was too.

"Morning," she said brightly, and he knew in an instant that she'd been up for awhile.

"It's not even nine thirty. We were out half the night."

"And you're awake just the same!"

She stood up and went to his kitchen as he came over to the table she'd been at a moment before.

"You want some coffee?"

She was already pouring it for him and he felt perplexed by the situation. Was she going to tell him something awful?

"You don't have to do that," he said softly.

She just smiled, bringing it over to him. "Oliver," she said, almost as if it were a learning experience for him. "Where I come from, people do things for one another because they care. It's not a big deal."

"Oh really?" he asked, taking a sip. "Then maybe you could get used to help from me. It could be a two way street, learning to accept help. Just a thought."

"Point made," she replied, a small twinkle in her eye. "I booked a flight back to Massachusetts later in the week to tie up loose ends and I've made a few appointments for interviews in the area."

"In this area?" he asked, confused and hopeful. "And over the phone? This morning?"

"Okay, wow," she said back, reacting to his ripple of questions. "Yes, in this area, yes, over the phone and on your computer that I didn't feel guilty about not getting permission to use, and tomorrow actually. So I have to come up with a resume immediately."

"And that'll be difficult for you?"

"Not terribly, but I still have to think. And if you have to maintain all of this," she said, gesturing to their surroundings. "…stop acting like I'm so unusual because I have an education. Or am I just unusual compared to the company you usually keep?"

"If you keep insulting me, you're going to suffer the consequences."

"I was merely pointing out my observation on why you keep bating my supposed intelligence. And speaking of which, do you work?"

"I should at some point, but I'm not going to leave you in a city you've never been in, alone, when you've just been held captive and you've just lost your best friend. Especially when I brought you here and we haven't figured out what we're going to do."

"We've decided that you're going to work so that I can focus on what I need to do, and then I can get a place of my own in the area."

"Is that what we've decided?"

"That is."

"You initiate a kiss and it scares you that fast? Or is it that you think that I'll force you to do something you don't want to, or that you _**do**_ want to?"

She began looking around, her eyes darting in different directions.

"What are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for the most expensive thing in the room to break and I can't quite decide what it would be…" she trailed off, and he couldn't take her seriously at all. "I'm perfectly capable of facing what I've started. I didn't ever intend to be your 'live in' female companion on the way to whatever we're going to be. You know I've worked hard to have the one thing that I do. And I'm still going to have that, even if I'll have it here with you for awhile."

She managed to say that without any anger or hostility, just a hint of firmness and enough determination that he understood what he gathered since he met her; she meant what she said.

"And you think this is how I want to be around you?" she asked him, standing up, her calmness now breaking. "Yeah, I love that you saved me, but I might like to feel not so completely at your mercy all the same time. I have to ask you for everything, and I must…"

"What?" he said, standing up and looking down at her, making her unaccustomed to feeling small. "Look like something inadequate to me?"

She sighed with irritation and turned away but he grabbed onto her arm, not allowing her to end the argument for the both of them.

"What do you think I felt when I kissed you last night? You don't think the first time I saw you, I didn't notice that you don't represent the artificial blonde with blue eyes who tries so hard to stand out but does nothing but blend in? I see them pushing themselves on everyone they can when you, you with all of that natural intensity are the one holding back."

When he spoke to her, it was like he was peeling her layers back, one by one. It was hard for her to look at him and even harder to handle him peering inside of her while speaking to her the way he did.

"Look at me," and when she did, his heart leapt, forcing the rest of his body to respond to her. His thumb went to her lower lip. "Yeah, you'd never blend in."

She opened her mouth a little so that his finger could massage her lip ever so slightly, and then she looked at him, almost with reason.

"It may be nine thirty in the morning when either of us could deny anything, but you knew I'd follow you anywhere."

"And I meant that I'd change my life, but you knew, and _**still**_ know that I want you."

"Why don't you mix those two together then? Keeping in mind, of course, that we both have things to do today."

"Do we?" he asked, breathing her in. This time he held much less back, latching his lips onto hers and tearing into her subconscious.

With her, Oliver felt a hunger to pull her closer, to eliminate space and to make her feel his need. He'd been aimlessly wandering for so long, searching for anything to fill the empty void that he'd had for as long as he could remember. After years of nights with nameless women and endless shots of alcohol, his hands now swept up Tess's face and his mouth traveled to her ear, breathing in the scent of her hair, letting her fill a number of his different senses.

It still wasn't enough, but he knew logically that he wanted her to be more than those other transient women. He pulled back, looking down at her.

"I want you to hold onto me, but trust me that I won't do anything but kiss you - for now."

She nodded, curling her arms around him, wanting so badly to connect her soul with the powerful invasion he was forcing on her mind. She wanted him inside her head as he slammed her against the nearest wall, his mouth playing with hers, smiling and nipping roughly, playfully. She liked that she didn't have to hold back with him, immediately clawing her fingers through his hair and then tracing them down his back. He felt good against her lips, beneath her fingers and breathing into her mouth as she let his tongue coax hers with his, teasing.

He listened to what her name sounded like as he whispered it between kisses, his body hardening against hers. He kept her in suspense by kissing her slowly and then ripping his mouth away, showering messy kisses on her face, dragging his lips along her jaw until she could feel the dampness in her underwear. Her nipples began to strain against her bra, aching for him and she pulled his face back her mouth with her small hands. She used the kiss to bring herself back to sanity, despite feeling him hard against her, just as ready as she was and practically pinning her against the wall.

Her un-manicured hand caressed his cheek as they both pulled back simultaneously, trembling slightly, unprepared for the shock of parting from each other. She opened her eyes first, seeing how hard he was trying for her and for the first time, maybe for himself. She waited for him to speak, knowing that if she said anything that it would come off desperate and probably scare him away.

"I don't think either one of us is concealing much right now," he said to her.

She tried not to smile in her shyness, but didn't succeed. "No, but like you said, we didn't meet in a normal situation."

"This could be a second date, and we're just kissing. Nothing wrong with that," he grinned in that swaggering way he had that made her laugh.

His mouth was already coming towards hers again, catching her laughing.

"Stop," she giggled, turning away. "Let's go have breakfast!" she protested, moving his face away from her lips.

"I'm not entertaining you?" he asked, trying to seduce her into staying where they were.

"I think you were on an island for two years and that you're the one who might need some entertainment," she teased playfully. "I, on the other hand, need today to be the beginning of my life and you need to go to work. So, move over there," she smiled, pointing across the room so he would stop his attempts at flirtation on her. "And I'm serious, let's go have breakfast."

Despite the fact that he could've had sex with her for hours – days even, he immediately gave into her request. He appreciated her vivacious personality as well as all the things she did to him physically. He watched her tuck her hair behind her ears, as she suppressed the sexuality they'd generated between them.

"What do you want to eat?" he asked her.

"I don't know, but a lot of it."

He smiled.

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~

**Notes: **This fic was written before "Abandoned" took place, and although I'm not necessarily discarding that episode, Tess didn't know about Lionel Luthor at this point in her life. Her 'surrogate' father was the one who abused her and modeled for her untrustworthiness when it came to men. At least, he started that trend for her. So that's the characterization that I'm going with in this fic. Lionel isn't necessary when Tess hasn't met Lex or reached Smallville yet.

But who the hell cares? The point is Tollie, not Tess's pain from the men in her life. Oyyyy.


	3. Chapter 3

**NC-17** **warning-err announcement! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3**

She sat in front of her laptop typing carefully and consistently, her neck beginning to ache as the hours went on. She had transferred to Stanford University, continuing her master's program while working at the Environmental Earth System Science branch, and still persisting to campaign for marine life.

She was able to work from home - or Oliver's place, a lot of the time. Creating her own schedule didn't always lessen her work load, but having the discipline she did, that frankly, Oliver sometimes lacked, enabled her to finish before he sometimes began.

Her fingers were cramping up from typing and she needed a drink. Oliver had been out on his balcony the last time she'd paid attention, having gone out there to make business calls, graciously leaving her to work in peace.

It had been weeks since she'd been in Star City with him and they were almost always together. She'd never been with a boyfriend that she'd spent this much time with. Since she was always concentrating on her studies, her boyfriends were often lucky to see her twice a week. She never believed that she could be in a successful romantic relationship with the bruises she'd received from the primary man in her life throughout her childhood. So she chose to be independent, striving for self-reliance. And now, here was someone who made it easy for her to believe in something more. Simply lying next to him and watching T.V. made her scathing past seem so much more irrelevant.

He was patient with her, knowing she liked the teasing of the 'waiting' part of this relationship, but he also knew that she wanted the same thing he did.

"Still going at it?" he gleamed at her, making an entrance into the room.

She looked up at him. He looked out of breath like he'd been dashing about, but she didn't think much of it. He had his own life too, and he was learning from the best that making a difference meant doing something for a cause you believed in.

"I'm done for now. I have to stop." She put the computer on sleep mode and stretched. "I need a drink."

She stood up, smiling and walked past him, running her fingers along his torso as she did so. He purposely stocked his penthouse with the things she liked so that she would use everything absentmindedly as if she already lived there. The last thing he usually did was encourage that kind of behavior in the opposite sex, but it was strangely enjoyable to discover things about her and gather items so that she would feel more comfortable staying with him.

He liked how quickly they felt at ease with each other, the verbal games they played with one another and that it was effortless between them. She retrieved the grenadine, Tommy Bahama and Rogue Dark rum from his bar. He watched her slice an orange with his rarely-used _Williams_-_Sonoma_ cutting board that Bruce Wayne of all people had given him one year.

"What are you thinking?" she asked him, smiling as she worked on her creation.

He came up behind her, grabbing hold of one of the 1/4-inch orange slices. She grinned, more enthused by the feeling of his bodyweight against her than his bold move. His hands swept to her stomach, loving the absolute center of her body.

"You asked me to put to my hand on you here-" he said as he spread his fingers smoothly over her stomach while using his other to interlace her fingers with his. "-because of what it means when certain people touch each other."

He felt his hand warm up, the molecules between her skin and his hand being exchanged just like the first time she'd taken it and placed it on her. Her muscles had been so tense because of the island so she'd taken his hand and placed it over her abdomen, waiting to see how much she could feel from his touch. When his hand had immediately heated up, she explained that that reaction was beyond sexual and he could tell from her expression that she felt a replenishment that she hadn't been expecting. He could feel her muscles unclench. He had kept his hand there for two hours.

"Yeah, I remember…" she said, turning around and pressing her lips onto his. "…and it still feels good when you do it."

He pulled her off the floor, wrapping her legs around his waist, loving her sweet intake of breath as the immediate passion grew in her eyes. Without hesitation, he dropped her onto the couch, their mouths colliding, his hands thrusting under her shirt, needing the skin-on-skin contact. He loved that she was casual, wearing blue jeans and an orange cap-sleeve wrap top with a surplice neckline. His fingers quickly went to the cups of her bra, squeezing and flicking over her nipples, causing her tongue to dive farther into his mouth. He impulsively ground his hips harder into hers, loving the frustration he felt for her and he began to wonder if his lust for her would ever be completely satisfied. And did he ever want it to be?

He broke the kiss, pulling back, hearing a slight exhale of distress escape her.

"I need to stop; I'm sorry," he said to her, knowing that he couldn't take going any further and still have to stop later. "You drive me crazy, you know that. But I should take you home."

He was kneeling between her calves and she smiled, rising up to meet him.

"You don't have to," she whispered, and he loved looking at the way her mouth was swollen. "I don't want you to stop. I want to be with you and I can take everything, and I want it…if you still want me."

"If…I want you," he repeated, always amazed at her coyness.

He gripped her body and yanked her thighs around him, crushing her mouth against his as a small laugh accompanied her returned kiss.

"I want _**you**_; I want you more than I've ever wanted anyone," he murmured, drawing her top off and tossing it aside.

"I want you too," she replied urgently, helping him with his frantic removal of his own shirt.

"Do you?" he teased, coming at her mouth just barely before pulling away, making her head spin when he pushed the coffee table aside abruptly, causing her to land on the floor.

He was over her instantly, his mouth desperate, asking her questions he'd had since the moment he'd met her. His hands dove for her jeans, aggressively slipping open the top button and reaching beneath her underwear. Her lips caressed his, trying to compensate as her fingers instinctively went to his own jeans, beginning to undo them even as he continually distracted her, forcing her to pull her lips from his and look at what her hands were attempting.

He tipped her chin back up, and the green of her eyes were almost invisible with her pupils dilated in passion.

She pushed him back, crawling her way up his torso with a soft determination and a complexity he was unused to seeing. She yanked at his pants until she could slide them off and then he rolled her back down. Just before her back hit the floor, he unsnapped the clasp of her bra and pulled it from her, freeing her upper body from all unwanted clothing.

"Oliver," she whispered as he covered her again, his hands frantically sliding her jeans off, taking her underwear with them. She lifted herself up to make it easier on him, burning everywhere for him, catching his mouth and wrapping her arms around his neck as soon as they were both no longer burdened by clothing.

His hand went between her thighs, gently nudging her legs apart. "I want you to tell me," he whispered, gently feeling his way around, waiting for her to cry out when he'd found her most sensitive place. He didn't let her kiss him, more concerned with the way she would sound when he found where she liked it, but he was smart enough to know that her mind had to be with him to respond. "Tess," he said, showering kisses along her face.

"What?" she asked, whispering to him as the tension eased in her stomach, pressure points inside of her being ignited.

"Tell me what you want, where you want me to touch you…"

Her skin was getting warmer, as his fingers worked on her, stimulating her as she turned her face to try to catch his mouth.

"No," he said, refusing to kiss her, his free hand tilting her head back to rain more kisses on her neck. "Tell me; talk to me."

Just then she cried out, her head thrusting further back, her body absorbing the sensations.

"Is that where?" he asked her, wanting her to tell him before he'd apply more pressure.

She inhaled sharply, her body and mind now completely consumed in him.

"Y-yes," she whispered, really wanting him to shut up and give her what she needed.

He wasted no time, and feeling her soaked against his hand as he shoved two fingers inside her, he used his thumb to apply outside pressure, sending her spiraling and grabbing onto him. She pulled him down to her, her hands going to his face as her teeth bit at his neck.

"Do you want me to do this?" he asked into her hair.

"Yes," she cried, her lips dragging against his skin, her legs involuntarily trying to bend to give him better access to her.

"Like that?"

She held on tighter. "I need you to, please..." she arched back.

"What else?"

She couldn't think clearly with his fingers going in and out of her, over and over, making her sweat, writhe and see things behind her closed eyes that she didn't want to admit to him yet.

"Just…please, your fingers…"

He inserted another one and she twisted back further, breathing out his name.

"Harder?"

"Just like that, exactly…like that."

He took two fingers, dipping them into her mouth, imitating his motions below before replacing his fingers with his lips.

"I want you to come," he told her, spreading out his fingers when they were once again deep inside her. "I want to hear you," he said softly, bending down slightly to kiss her lower lip.

His words made her excited more than his actions. She cried out his name, biting down on his lips accidentally and climaxing against him, her nails clawing into his shoulder blades.

Waves of excitement, exhilaration, and exhaustion coursed through her as she lay down, letting go of his shoulders. No one had ever asked her to tell them what she wanted or liked to that degree before. She had never expected the _**words**_ to be part of the experience. She wiped the sweat off her upper lip, feeling embarrassed over what she'd said and how she'd responded to him. She didn't avoid his eyes for long, knowing that that would give more away than any expression she had would.

His hands slid beneath her back and he kissed her, this time enticing her, inviting her and because of that, she was immediately seduced back into wanting him more than anything. He was natural to her though he was so much more blatant than her previous experiences. Her hands made their way around him, her legs slowly opening to guide him between them.

He took her wrists that were trying to touch him and placed them gently over her head.

"Tess, look at me."

His brown eyes peered into hers as his passion invaded her body, making her look away in an almost chaste embarrassment. He could convince her in an instant of what he was thinking about when he looked at her.

"Why do you do that?" she asked him softly.

"Do what? Don't look away from me."

"Why do you have to make it so…clear?"

"Is it not otherwise?" he asked with smiling eyes.

"Stop-" she exclaimed, slightly frustrated and struggling to free her arms from his grasp. "…answering my questions with questions," and when he let her go she still smiled.

He leaned down, holding her in his hands, his lips against hers.

"Are you sure I can have you?" he asked her.

She nodded, consuming his mouth, feeling his hands dig into her scalp when he drove into her, both of them crying out. He kept her in place with one hand so he could sufficiently dominate her mouth, sucking and nipping her lips between sighs. His free hand slid between their bodies as he pushed her legs further apart, feeling the skin of her inner thighs.

"Can you feel me as much as I feel you?" he asked her.

"I feel you right now," she whispered breathlessly, opening her body to him as he slowly jerked in response. She tightened her muscles then, seeing him suck in a breath, and she met the power of his movements. "Something _**you**_ like," she noted softly, her voice making it evident she was aware she finally held some power over him.

"Quit acting so defenseless, you have most of the power in this," he said, pushing her up to the side of the couch so he had a firmer surface to use as leverage.

He could smell the pheromones that had been flooding his senses since he'd first met her, and he buried his face in her neck, his tongue licking the skin that had more flavor than he ever thought possible. He drove himself inside her body as her hands reached for the pillows to keep from losing balance when she leaned back, allowing him complete access to her.

"Do you know how long I've wanted you naked and in my arms like this?" he sighed into her ear, arching her back so he could place a kiss on her nipple.

She smiled, holding his head against her breast for a moment as she remained in that position. "You've never waited, have you?" she mocked gently through exhausted pants.

His mouth left her breast and came up to face her. "I never wanted to like this before. But after tonight, I want to make sure you never _**want**_ to wait for me again."

He grabbed the backs of her thighs and quickly went to work on that goal, knocking her against the couch, wasting no time teasing her, tasting her. He liked the smell of her sweat that was now glistening, dampening her hair as he twisted it in his fingers. He flicked his tongue on the salty skin of her collar bone, the flavor spurring him on, making him use the firm surface of the couch for all it was worth.

"I admire your ambition," she breathed feverishly, bracing her hand on the floor to balance the both of them. Her moans weren't deep in her throat anymore as she listened to his pants against her neck. She was crying out, taking in the overwhelming strokes as he pulled one of her legs up, sucking on her sweaty skin as he did so.

He felt her on the edge, tiny convulsions as her body pleaded to climax, urging him on as he crashed inside her, his open mouth marking her neck as he prepared to make sure the world knew she was taken.

Her mouth fell open against his lips as she began to come, their kiss dissipating as he enjoyed her uncensored cries, stimulating his own fierce movements. His chest glistened as he pounded into her, her head falling back in abandon. She squeezed against his thrusts as her orgasm swept over her-forcing all of her fire to erupt against his final thrusts. Her instant scream was almost silenced by his kiss when she climaxed - her fingers clawing playfully at his back as he joined her orgasm.

Waiting through several long minutes of recovering breaths, she raised her head from the tilted back position it had been in and he watched an expressive, satisfied smile come over her face as she kissed his lips.

"There's not a thing you do that doesn't make me wanna tear your clothes off," he said to her, lacing his fingers with hers.

"My clothes are off," she whispered in response.

"And how much energy do you have?"

"I'm pretty energetic."

"Are you?"

"Uh huh, why? You have doubts?"

"No, but you-" he said, placing a kiss on her bottom lip before continuing. "—keep making me have to work and I like it. I want to take you to my bedroom and wear you out all night long."

She let out a startled sigh when he lifted her off the floor and headed for the bedroom, preparing to make good on his statement.

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Even through the closed shades of Oliver's bedroom, the sunlight still managed to seep inside, awakening Tess. She was twisted up in the messiest tangle of sheets she'd ever slept in. She opened her eyes and tried to focus them, positive she had only gotten one or two hours of sleep at most when she saw his eyes already watching her.

For a moment, she wondered if the chase was over and the boredom would kick in for him because now he'd _**had**_ her. He saw the troubled thoughts cross her mind quite subtly, and he came to her, rolling her onto her back with the tangled sheets still somewhat between them.

She'd been slightly cool in the night so she'd slept in his undershirt which hugged her figure in all the right places. The lower half of her body remained naked and he never remembered seeing anything so beautiful. Up close he could see the light freckles on her face due to her months on the island. He stared at her, with all the natural sensuality that she tried to suppress - along with her spitfire personality – and it made him want to know everything that she was afraid of. More than that, he wanted her to believe in him. And he'd make her. He'd convince her.

In thinking of a way to tell her what she made him feel, he was distracted by how she looked to him after a night of trying to outlast each other. His expression made her smile.

"What?" she asked him.

"No, it's just…this is new for me. And I'm not used to not being able to think of things to say the day afterwards because I keep getting distracted by you. You may have to quit your job."

She smiled, her heart flooding with security in the way his eyes washed over her. She loved everything he'd made her feel and when she didn't let her own past traumas interfere, she felt like she'd known him a lifetime. His fingers touched her shoulder.

"Did Marco…" he asked.

"No…" she started simply, looking at the light mark that had been inflicted upon her years ago. "…it wouldn't be a healed, faded scar if it had been Marco. Not that Marco didn't know how to throw a punch but that's my father's handiwork."

"How old were you?"

She looked at her arm, trying to remember, the memories faded and jumbled. "Um, I think that time, around nine. He broke it three times. He was always angry with me, always."

Oliver shook his head, having always been disgusted by child abuse.

"You are not lying here with someone who could ever hide her flaws," she said, her fingers gently combing through his blonde hair.

"Don't hide them. You can see mine and anyway, I love it when you tell me things."

"Do you?" she flirted, wanting to change the mood, not out of discomfort but more for pleasure.

He leaned his face into her hand, completely reveling in her touch. There were light bruises on her neck from the markings he'd made on her all night. Her eyes stared up at him and he saw her innocence and the craving for his acceptance that she kept contained just beneath the surface. She was working so hard not to let it boil over but he almost wanted it to. He wanted to feel what that would taste like on her.

He bent down and drew her lips to his, the lips that had been on him, sucking him, caressing him, tempting him all night long.

"You make me want you," he sighed against her, his hand reaching down between her legs, opening them to do the thing she'd found a way to distract him from multiple times last night. She resisted slightly and he stroked her lips with his own. "Let me. Let me return the favor," he said to her, now guessing that it had either never been done to her, or never been done in a way that she'd liked.

He loved the way she looked in his shirt so much that he left it on, instead just leaving a few agitating kisses on her lower stomach before carefully moving her legs apart and placing his mouth over her. He sipped her, tasting her delicately at first, surprised by the lush flavor he was acquiring with his each stroke of his tongue. She didn't have much of a response immediately, which encouraged him to use his fingers, dipping them inside of her as he made figure eights with his tongue over her. He then reached a hand over her stomach, spreading his fingers wide over her muscles, feeling them contract and release as the twinges of pleasure began to unfold inside her with the assisted help of his fingers.

He knew it was mildly uncomfortable to her as he remained gentle but deliberate, coaxing a confidence from her as he kept a hold on her, never letting go as he rendered cries from her that didn't sound like the ones he'd heard the night before. He couldn't see her as his tongue darted and made repeated patterns over her, but he envisioned her grabbing onto the sheets, trying not to twist back and forth while holding back on crying out his name until she couldn't restrain herself any longer and gave in.

Her legs began closing, gripping his head as he became more aggressive in his pursuit, thrusting his fingers harder, making strokes across her inner thighs, caressing her flesh, almost as if he were soothing her until she came against him. He pushed her legs away from him, knowing it was a response, though she wasn't able to express it very freely yet. Soft, unyielding cries came from her as the shuddering climax coursed through her, rippling out in sharp, unauthorized waves.

His hands enclosed around her hips, his mouth going up her body as his fingers pushed off the snug shirt, allowing him to place soft kisses on her hardened nipples. By the time he reached her breathless mouth, he was excited by the sensations he'd elicited from her.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, still having the state of mind to be concerned.

"Yeah," she nodded, and then she smiled up at him, bringing his mouth down to hers.

He hoped that she'd taste herself on his mouth. When she pulled him over her, he craved her even more, wrapping his arms around her, wanting to hold onto her forever. He loved when the slightest moan came from the back of her throat the minute his tongue flicked inside her mouth. He pulled back.

"Can you taste yourself?"

"No," she replied quietly.

"Really?" he asked. He reached a hand down between them. "Open your legs," he commanded softly and she did. Gathering some of her leftover dampness on his fingers, he brought it to her mouth. "You taste incredible," he told her. "Taste yourself."

She took her fingers into his mouth, saturating them, but it had little taste to her.

"How can you not taste that?" he asked her.

"I'm sorry," she attempted, almost amused at his disappointment.

He licked his own fingers and then attacked her mouth, tasting her on her own lips, amazed that she seemed to be immune to it. Though now, his need for her was greater than that previously distressing fact.

"I wanna keep you here for days," he whispered as he hovered on top of her.

Her heart fluttered as her eyes stayed with his, aching for him as he looked down at her in a way no one had ever looked at her. He made her forget about her life, her job, her life goals and she loved being distracted by something so powerful. She distracted him from his reality too and eventually, when they'd exhausted each other sufficiently, they'd remember the responsibilities they had.

**~~~To Be Continued~~~**

Wow, I write them graphic. Good grief. But then it begs the question…is that wrong?


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

He looked up at her dipping Chinese noodles into her mouth as he rested in his head in her lap, his body extended on the couch. She had a work file in her hand but her hunger was taking priority. He reached up and took one of her noodles, separating it and placing it in his own mouth.

"You were amazing the other night," he said to her when he finished chewing.

"The other night being when I threw a dinner party for your friends and we all ending up drinking too much or _**last**_ night when you kept me up until it was time for me to go work?"

"Well…both," he replied and she laughed, which he always seemed to be able to make her do. "But I was referring to the dinner. You were amazing. I loved your sales pitch for a Julia Child recipe."

"Were you all expecting the Louisiana girl to cook Gumbo or a Rueben?" she teased. "Which, by the way, are two fantastic things, but they're not the only things a southern native can have knowledge about."

"Apparently - you eat and speak Chinese, gimme some!" he said, attacking her box of food, causing her to giggle. "You know what day is coming up?"

"Your birthday," she replied easily, surprising him that she would have that much focus about his life when few others seemed to.

"My mother's too," he told her. "I was looking at a box of her things, photos, files, things she kept. I don't look at it much."

He didn't say anything for a minute and he didn't ask her anything. She let him hesitate and when he still said nothing, she helped him.

"Can I see what she looked like?"

His face filled with relief when he looked up at her, a grateful smile pouring over his features at the realization that he could share his mother with someone.

"Yeah," he said softly, getting up and leaving the room to retrieve the box.

Tess spent the next two hours listening to stories of his mother as they both looked through her possessions - possessions of a woman Tess hated knowing was missing her son's life. She'd been up the previous night with Oliver and was trying not to yawn as the second hour crept into a third. She focused and nodded as he handed her a photo of his mother at around the age Tess was now, and finally Oliver paused to notice Tess's fatigue.

"I'm sorry. You're exhausted and I've been going on for how long now?"

She smiled through another yawn. "No, it's wonderful. I lost a lot of things of my mother's after the island and after Harvard. And I know you lost your parents but having these things to help you have even just a collage in your head of what kind of people they were, it matters."

He looked away as if he believed her statement wasn't enough. She moved over to him, placing her arms around his chest from behind, comfortingly.

"Hey, it is. It is something. And _**you**_ matter. What you tell me, I want to hear it."

She kissed his ear, her hand massaging his torso. "You know, sometimes I think just for a moment that I can hear my mother's laughter. And what I hear, I don't know if it's real or not, but I hear something. You, I think you have something real. Listen to it. And I'll listen too. If you'd let me, I could hold onto the memories with you. They'd be stronger if the both of us knew them."

He placed his hand over hers and turned to her, kissing her lips gently. She had reason about her that he was always surprised by even though he knew he shouldn't be. She'd be exasperated at him one minute and then completely rational and loving the next. Every moment felt brand new to him. He was a man who was bored easily and she kept him guessing, kept him wanting, kept him genuine.

She pulled back, looking at him adoringly, falling back against his couch. "Would you hold me until I fall sleep and wake me up early enough for me to go home in the morning and get ready for work?" she asked.

"You have clothes here; _**stay**_ here. Quit going home in the first place."

She smiled and shook her head. "Don't bring that up when I'm sixty seconds from unconsciousness. I'd agree to anything."

"You would not," he disagreed, climbing onto the couch to pull her into his arms. "But I'll wear you down."

She yawned as both of them laid down together, snuggling. "Wear me down later, you're good at that."

"I'm good at wearing you out, not down."

"Shut up," she laughed. "I wear you out just as much."

XxX

She'd rushed home, jumped in the shower and reapplied her makeup before beginning dinner. She'd decided at the last minute on a shrimp pot pie with puff pastry in a white wine cream sauce. She didn't think she was a particularly great cook, but Oliver seemed to devour her food and she loved his kitchen, so it worked out. She was quickly deveining the shrimp when he walked through the door. He smelled the cream, mushrooms, thyme, and white wine and wondered how long she'd been scrambling.

He walked into the kitchen and saw her chopping off the tails off the shrimp and chuckled.

"Don't you fight against this by day?"

"Deveining shrimp?" she asked nonchalantly, too busy multi-tasking.

"Don't you buy them deveined?"

"Not deveined _**enough**_," she informed him. She leaned to him and kissed him tenderly. "Happy Birthday. And I support marine life, but if I sit under a microscope studying them all day, no longer alive, this doesn't upset me. After what I've done to pass classes, I can do anything. This, it's easy. And I know you like shrimp."

"And you don't?"

"I absolutely do. I just feel bad for being stressed out on your birthday. Wine would help."

"Wine?"

"Yes, wine, lots, now," she said with wide, needy eyes that made him grin.

"You want something stronger?"

"You know I'll drink anything you put in front of me, just be aware I need to focus somewhat on this."

"I would've been happy be with sandwiches."

"You can make some tomorrow," she smiled at him.

Tess let dinner cook as she suggested he change out of his work clothes as she already had, wanting the final memories of the stressful day away from them both. She liked being casual now and then, so instead of creating a huge dining experience, she placed the plates on the floor and got out his present. She knew his friends - or colleagues - would throw him a party over the weekend and they would happily attend, so tonight she wanted it to be more intimate and easy. She would dress up and be formal with him that weekend. She didn't mind it, but she almost saw him nodding off with boredom at the events he took her to. She especially knew that was a reality when they'd sometimes go off into hallways or closets and find their own ways of entertainment.

She tried to keep up with his appetite, but he was already getting up for a third helping of her food.

"That's your last helping until after you open your present. Pay attention," she teased, pointing to the present. "Class is in session."

"It's _**my**_ birthday," he complained as she took his plate from him when he made his way back to her.

"I know, but alternate indulgences for a moment so that I can relax and know you're not going to have a heart attack for what I did."

He saw in her eyes that she'd put effort into whatever the gift was and without needing to know what it was, he caressed her face before opening the large package.

"It's a scrapbook," he stated, feeling the extreme weight of it when he placed it in his lap. "You made it?" he asked her, opening the first page.

"Don't look so surprised," she replied softly.

Immediately he recognized his favorite photo of his mother that his father had taken of her four months after they'd met, bordered and dated, modestly and artistically embellished by the surrounding space of the page.

"And it's not _**exactly**_ a scrapbook. I found a consultant to buy all of the tools, though I didn't go to ." She waited a minute as his eyes concentrated on the pages, thoughtful, caring. "I made copies of the photos so you could keep the originals. It's archival so nothing will be damaged. But I thought you might want it out of a box and into something that would be protective. And I wrote down your memories for you in there."

After the island, after all of the solitude he'd had, and even though it had been months with Tess, there were moments that still got to him. They were great moments, like this one, but he didn't know how to tell her how he felt in the way she deserved. He closed the book and looked up at her. He could only imagine the amount of memory recall and time she put into it. And yet he still couldn't look at it all the way through right now.

"I've never received anything like that before. I've never-and…" he took her hand and pulled her into his lap. He was amazed by the woman in front of him. He brushed her slightly wavy hair back and watched her eager eyes waiting for approval. "Mercy."

"I can undo it," she told him, cupping the side of his face. "Nothing's glued. It can all be undone."

He pulled her closer, inadvertently causing the position of her legs to feel more comfortable as they entwined themselves around his waist.

"Don't undo anything," he said, kissing her forehead. "You are the first person to ever create a life out of a box of in a closet, a closet of memories I chose to keep hidden. I don't want that to be something undone. What you create, it's permanent. What you are…"

Her heart dropped in relief and she rested her head on his chest, feeling him immediately place affectionate kisses on the top of her head. Sometimes she felt like she needed endless reassurance and she didn't know how to ask for it. He knew that she did, though, and he often supplied it without making her feel any sillier for seeking it.

"I can have such an empty day, an empty life and then you come into it and _**give**_ it life," he said softly, rocking her gently. She raised her eyes up to meet his, so sincerely, _**innocently**_ asking for his affection even in her exhaustion. It brought him to her, magnetized him to her like a force as his lips went to hers. That was all she needed, returning the kiss gently.

He leaned back on the floor, unintentionally breaking the kiss as she easily lay on his chest.

"What'd you do for your last birthday?" he asked her.

She exhaled a laugh, remembering. "I got high with my best friend and swam in the ocean trying to identify all the organisms I couldn't see."

"In Boston?"

"No, he flew with me to Florida, actually."

"He."

She smiled. "He's gay."

"So you and your gay friend got in an ocean while high to identify fish?"

"That is a perfect day to me!" she declared with glee. Then she propped herself up on his chest, looking down thoughtfully. "I miss having a gay guy friend."

"Gee, thanks," he mused, causing her to giggle, and he cut her off before she could reply. "We're in goddamned northern California for crying out loud. All you have to do is step outside and you could find both marijuana _**and**_ a gay best friend!" he exclaimed, her laughter making her unable to keep her head up.

He loved making her laugh. Even when she was absolutely infuriated at him, he could usually get at least a smile out of her. Her laughter eventually began to subside and she rested her chin on his chest like a puppy.

"You want me to get dessert?"

"Did you make the brownies?" he whispered eagerly.

"The ones you devoured the first time I made them? Yes. I had to hide them in my office."

Oliver forgot how tired he was and he sat up slowly, taking her with him, admiring her in the snail-print pajamas he'd gotten for her for no occasion in particular. She'd worn them tonight for the very reason of the snails _**slowing down **_on the material, mixing with her need to unwind after work. Oliver loved supporting her love of creatures and marine life by surprising her with simple gifts since she'd lost so many of her belongings. Subconsciously, he also liked seeing her in things that he had given, something to which she wasn't entirely oblivious. It more amused her rather than offended her in any way.

"You always find a way to revive me," he said, pushing her wavy hair back and kissing her jaw. "I was ready to take a cat nap."

He slid his hand beneath her shirt, expanding his hand over her stomach up towards her solar plexus. She shuddered slightly, pulling back only from the effect, not because she didn't want him.

He moved his hand roughly down the middle of her shirt, separating the buttons from the material entirely. Looking at her perfectly toned stomach, for the first time in his life he imagined a life with her that might include children. She had never brought up anything other than her unconditional love, but he saw more, a life that he didn't yet know how to confide in her.

Maybe she knew that. Maybe that was why she was so patient. She was consistently patient and yet incredibly eager and he knew what she had been denied all her life. It was the same thing he had been denied as well. He loved feeding her, filling the void and in doing so, saving the woman who always exhilarated him.

The brownies were eaten later, combined with other activities they'd previously thought they were too tired for.

~~~~To Be Continued~~~~


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

He waited as patiently as he could outside of her office. She had her own name on the door after only a few months. He was so proud of her and what she had accomplished in such a short time. She had changed the rules in his mind of what he'd thought he'd wanted in a significant other – even though there hadn't been one for long periods of time. Although, he was beginning to realize that he hadn't really analyzed what he'd wanted in a relationship before her.

When he'd first met Tess on the island, he immediately felt relief that he could be with someone who didn't live the way he did, who might be untainted by some of the insincerity he'd lived through, and though she'd remained loyal to what she loved, she'd easily adapted well to his lifestyle.

He could hear her discussing finances and some sort of fundraising event with a coworker and finally he couldn't take it anymore and interrupted her work day for the second time that week. Tess looked up and a slightly nervous look came over the young man's face, reacting to being in the same room with the infamous billionaire. Tess, on the other hand, was only mildly irritated.

"Alright, thank you, Tim. I'll have to continue this later," she said to him, handing him her notes.

He took them and quickly exited her office, shutting the door behind him, purposely giving them privacy, which Tess didn't miss.

"What are you doing?" she asked Oliver. "He closed the door behind him. I never close my door. Do you think anyone's unaware of what you came here for? Could you at least show up at lunch time so I could have a slightly less obvious-"

"Obvious what?" he questioned with a cocky grin on his face, coming over to her desk and watching the uninvited smile come over her face as the explicit thoughts assaulted her mind. He lifted her up onto her desk, immediately untying her white ruffled jacket that was laced across her chest. "You reduce me to someone who stands outside your door at nine in the morning for all of ten minutes and then barges in, desperate for you," he whispered as his mouth nipped at hers playfully.

Immediately she smiled, opening her legs to pull him to her, her hands going straight to his jeans.

"Alright, but shut up," she insisted, giving in mischievously, already unzipping his pants and sliding her hand inside. She stroked him gently at first, and his whole body jerked forward as his tongue flicked over her lips, seeking entry into her mouth.

He pushed her jacket off and slowly peeled her pink top down, cupping her breasts tightly, having needing her again since she'd left his sight that morning.

He circled her nipples with his thumbs as she massaged his tip, feeling her run her mouth along his neck. "Mercy," he breathed against her face.

"What?" she asked him enticingly, moving downward, caressing him as his body seized forward several times, asking for more.

He'd come into her life, almost wiping it free of everything it was before and making it what it was now. He told her enough for her to know that she was the first person he had _**this**_ kind of need for. She liked it. She liked the knowledge, the feelings he gave her. She'd never had someone's heart, but it was more than that. He'd given her a confidence to learn her own beauty with him. She'd wanted to make him feel as connected and as sexual as he made her feel.

She complied at a steady pace, gripping him firmly as he whispered expressive words to her, jerking at her own zipper and attempting to push her back on the desk before she drove him over the edge.

"You," he said, shoving her back and yanking her pants down. "You've changed every day, made everything in my life better. Why the hell do you think I can't stand to be away from you for more than a few hours?" he asked, his mouth descending onto hers.

"Really?" she exhaled, tugging at his lips and pulling herself upright, using her fingers to drive him to the brink of insanity. She captured his lips and glided her tongue along the bottom of his, still stroking him from base to tip.

"Dammit, Tess," he shook with anticipation, his fingers latching onto her shoulders as his mouth began to knick her throat.

"No-don't," she whispered softly, using one hand to push his mouth back up to hers. "Don't bite me at work," she laughed against his lips.

Obeying her, he bit down on her lower lip as his hand clamped on her thigh, his body completely going into overdrive as he grabbed onto her in his release. She caught him, holding him as his erratic breaths and rough movements electrified her, trapping his hands in hers before he could knock anything off her desk carelessly.

"Shhh," she breathed soothingly, trying to keep his movements from being too loud, though she was completely on the verge of not giving a damn. "Get on top of me," she commanded softly, lying back and pulling him with her.

She pulled at the buttons of his shirt, feeling his entire body align with hers before she could completely unclothe him. His hands rested on her fluttering stomach, her muscles always giving into his touch, never ceasing to let him know what he did to her. She dipped her head back, unintentionally making him crazy when she called out his name the way she did. He tugged at her pants until they were completely off her legs, not appreciating the barriers between them.

"Tell me you're mine," he said to her as he gathered one of her slender legs in his hands.

"You drive me insane when you objectify me," she breathed restlessly, reaching a hand up to his face, wishing he'd pick another time and place to claim her as his property. "So what, if I don't say yes…" she paused, needing a breath. "…you'll get up and leave?"

"Oh no," he informed her, leaning down to kiss her persistently. "You _**are**_ mine. I just want you to say it."

She kissed him back, giggling briefly, momentarily contemplating punching him out. But truthfully, she enjoyed his bravado. It was appealing to her when it never would've been with anyone else.

He pulled her leg open wider, running his fingers along her inner thigh as he pushed himself into her, feeling her dampened entrance stretching to accommodate him. He watched her reaction as he plunged further, the rush pouring over her as she tried to restrain from expressing it beyond her office walls.

"Tell me, Mercy," he taunted gently, caressing her lips with his fingers, unprepared when she shifted her position, forcing his lips to hers so he could cry out into her mouth.

With the slight space between them, she aggressively pulled his shirt from his body, lining his solid torso with her determined fingers.

"You know I'm yours," she answered, the open-mouthed kisses exhausting her in a way that didn't seem to be affecting him as quickly. "You know what you make me feel like, what you've done to me," she said breathlessly, turning her face away so his lips would travel down her neck.

"And what way is that exactly? The way you make me feel?" he said, holding her wrists down on the desk, the vibrations between them increasing and causing unavoidable perspiration on them both.

"Please, just make me…" she pleaded with him.

"Make you what?" he asked her, angling his strokes ruthlessly over her clit in hopes she would lose complete control in her response.

She whimpered deeply as his fluid movements ignited sparks up and down her thighs. She reached a hand up to touch his sweaty face. "I _**always**_ want you. Please, Oliver," she begged softly.

He pushed into her hard, swiftly, wanting her in the most primal and essential ways. He flattened himself over her, grinding his hips into her as his lips traveled to the flesh overflowing from the built-in cups of her top. His tongue began licking and sucking her nipples, spurring her on, pushing her closer and she had to hold back to wait for him, frustrated cries escaping her lips.

"Come here," she begged, wanting him to be near her lips. When his hands were beneath her back and his mouth was colliding with hers, she twisted her body furiously against him seeking release.

"Do you want me to need you?" she asked him. "Do you want to be inside my mind, in my thoughts? Because you never let me rest and I-" she cried out when his fingers pressed brutally into her back as a result of his lust. "-don't let you either," she gasped, as her body was moved back and forth against her own desk.

He kissed her so blatantly that she tried to restrain herself from taking the sharp breath in the back of her throat, but he still caught it and was absolutely enraptured by the flickers of energy that coursed through him when she touched him. She completely mesmerized him and all he wanted to do was be around her, collect pieces of her, and make her want him as much as he possibly could…all the time.

He weakened her with the kiss, driving himself almost to his own breaking point and then he pulled back, looking down at her.

"That's exactly what I want, Mercy. Because you're everything I want."

And then he made them both climax, feeling the exquisite frustration of having to use each other instead of their vocal cords to express the ecstasy of what they felt as they gripped each other tightly, surrendering to the pent-up sexual tension of only a few hours.

He gasped for air, her sighs echoing in his ears as he held her in his arms as they both lay spent on her desk. Her irritation rose up inside of her like a flame, lighting up, and she was aggravated that she hadn't just been satisfied enough, mentally or physically.

Still breathing in and out, she reached a hand up to his face. "Ol-"

His kiss cut her off instantly, and she loved that she didn't have to convince him to want her at any point. He pulled her up, this time determined to have her completely naked against him as he pushed her top off of her.

"Oliver," she whispered as his hands cupped her breasts, his mouth trailing its way down to them.

"What?"

"Put me on the floor."

He placed a kiss on her nipple and then lifted his face back up to look her in the eyes. "You sure?"

"Yeah, just do it, just do it hard."

He stepped closer, wrapping her legs around him so he could lift her off the desk. Her eyes flooded with adoration as she kissed his mouth.

"God, I love who you are," she said breathlessly as he put her on the floor.

He held her in his arms, his mouth going over hers deeply as he pushed back into her, gliding in, taking her face in his hands as he did so. He positioned himself more directly over her so that he could slide in further, beginning immediately with deep, hard thrusts combined with slow, involved kisses.

"Anything good I am is _**because**_ of you," he whispered between the nipping and sucking that he insisted she participate in. "Mercy-" and he took her face in his hands again.

"I love it when you call me that," she said, her eyes closing and her body arching in surrender, demanding that he be more aggressive and give her what she needed.

Oliver pushed her down, willing to be forceful but needing to hold her, he needed her in his arms. He gathered her upper body off the floor, causing her to prop herself up for support. He vehemently made love to her while holding onto her, kissing her lips, his fingers clawing through her sweaty hair until he felt her piercing climax take hold of her and force his own release. He threw her back against the floor, crying out as quietly as he could against her ear, both of them twice as exhausted as before.

XxX

She lay on his chest for a few moments, enamored by the way he stared at her. She could've watched him look at her forever. She filled the void in his soul, she captivated him and she knew that. She accepted him even when he drove her insane on any number of different levels and they fed off each other, almost competitively. She had won this time when he broke their stare first, smiling. He enjoyed letting her break down another one of the protective barriers he'd built up before meeting her whenever she looked at him with her penetrating…innocent, yet vulnerable eyes.

"What?" she asked him.

He leaned up and kissed her, indicating he wanted her again.

"I-have to get back to work," she protested, pulling away with a smile.

"Oh, you mean I finally satisfied you?"

"You know you could benefit from learning how to strut in front of a pool in the crisp sunlight," she flirted playfully. "On your way home why don't you shop for a couple creative outfits, AKA think beyond a thong," she teased, leaning in for a kiss.

Unfortunately, she sobered up then, remembering her heavy workload for the remainder of the day. "Alright alright, see this is why it's a good thing that one of us has some discipline," she giggled, removing his fingers from her shoulders. "Could you just do me one favor, please? When you walk out of my office, could you please not have a smirk on your face like you just successfully bought out another company-or country?"

"I don't _buy_ everything, Mercy. I think the word you're _actually_ looking for is 'conquered' or 'discovered'."

"Thank you, grammar police. But this office is where _**I**_ work and I don't need them thinking I'm anymore insane for how often you happen to be in here with me with the door closed."

He tossed the issue aside carelessly. "You just need to have remote control panties when I'm not around."

"Why would I have remote control panties at work?" exclaimed profusely. "There's no one to push the button!"

He laughed and rose up to her sitting position, kissing her. "You're the greatest woman alive."

"Why's that?" she grinned, kissing him softly on the lips. "Because I can call you on your crap?"

"Yes. It's sexy."

She leaned her mouth to his as he curled her red wisps in his fingers. "Babe, you wanna know what else is sexy? You putting your clothes on and walking right out that door and letting me get a few things done!"

**~~~~To Be Continued~~~~**

**(Hopefully at Some Point)**

**Updated Notes: **I had never intended to leave this story dangling here and finally-FINALLY-I actually have some muses/plot bunnies for this-YAYYYY!

This story will have to become sort of vignettes of their _1__st__ Time Around_ as opposed to some specific storyline arch in which there's an antagonist that they have a mission to fight against, encouraging a clear beginning, middle, and an end.

That was one of the main things holding me back this entire time, believe it or not. If you (the most incredible Tollie-fanbase ever) can personally leave out a specific timeline structure, that would help so much with my ability to write & publish more!

Fingers crossed for my inspiration! And discipline and time!

Thanks to the _**Toxic**_ flashbacks that were such an important part of their relationship…showing the beauty, vulnerability, and epic love they have.

I thank you so much for reading this story and as I improve upon it and add layers and chapters, I hope you continue to enjoy!


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